


The Smallest Ocean

by fits_in_frames



Category: Lost
Genre: F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-04-12
Updated: 2007-04-12
Packaged: 2018-01-20 12:06:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 573
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1509851
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fits_in_frames/pseuds/fits_in_frames
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Shannon cried over Boone's body, Sayid went for a swim.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Smallest Ocean

**Author's Note:**

> _the smallest ocean still gets_  
>  _big, big waves_  
>  {pearl jam // tremor christ}  
> 
> 
> Spoilers through "The Greater Good".

When Shannon cried over Boone's body, Sayid went for a swim.

He'd been land-locked most of his life; growing up, there was barely enough water for his family to drink. He learned to swim as part of his combat training: a two-week crash-course on how not to drown in water that stung his eyes and dried his skin. He hated everything about it: the way his feet rubbed against the concrete bottom, the pressure in his ears, the sickening feeling of coughing up water twice a day. Three men in his class died. He didn't even smile when he passed.

Early in his journey around the island, he'd found what he gathered to be a large, salty tidal pool. The fact that it was so far inland and so large suggested it was man-made, but at the time that had seemed a ridiculous notion. After checking for poisonous things, he stripped and stepped in. The water was over his head. He clawed at the sides until he felt dry sand, and hoisted himself up. He lay flat on his back, breathing in big, gulping breaths. Once his head stopped spinning, he shone the flashlight down into the water, and couldn't see the bottom.

A few days after he escaped Danielle and returned to camp, he sought out Boone, whom he had heard was a lifeguard in his former life, and asked if he would re-teach him how to swim. Only at night for a short time, away from the others, Boone said. Sayid had no problem with this, and told Boone where to meet him later on.

At midnight, he lit a fire, and Boone's eyes danced when he showed up ten minutes later. He showed Sayid how to tread water on the sand, and Sayid jumped in. Boone gave him instructions, and he followed until he went under and didn't have the strength to come back up. Boone lowered himself in, and pulled him out easily. Perhaps it was the water in his ears, or perhaps it was the fact that the pool was forcing them to press against each other, but Sayid laughed and said that was enough for tonight. Boone agreed.

So they sat by the firelight for a long while, and somehow, Boone's hand found its way over Sayid's. Partially out of shock, Sayid grabbed his wrist and held it between them, then grabbed his other wrist. They watched each other for a moment, and when their lips touched, there was neither the gasp of pleasure nor the moan of desire, only the rough sounds of the sand against their skin, and the sea against the sand.

They never went back, and Sayid hadn't gone swimming since. When Jack told Shannon what happened to Boone, she'd said she wanted to be alone with him, so Sayid went searching for the pool. It was gone. He padded over to the shore, and stood in the surf, arms out-stretched, then dove in, headfirst. He made sure he could always touch the bottom, and swam until his arms were tired and his eyes were raw.

The hardest part, he thought as he returned to camp where they were going to bury Boone, would not be grieving Boone. He felt barely the passion of a spring breeze for Boone, though he had once looked on him with the fervor of a sandstorm in Egypt. No, the hardest part would be lying to Shannon.


End file.
